Reserve a Time in Tacoma’s Tinkerspace, Daily! call 253-778-6539
Fun Kid Activities Near Me: Tacoma’s Tinker STEAM/STEM Inventor Makerspace for Super Crafty Builders! $10 for 90 min!
| Usage | Cost | Tinker Session Window | Buy Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Building Tinker Time! Designed for SCHOOL Ages 6 and up (Not for 2,3,4 year olds, they are too little)! |
$10.00 materials included |
MONDAY to SUNDAY 7 Days A Week!
Session One 12-1:30pm; Session Two 3-4:30pm; |
90 min |
| Helper Supervisor/Observer Grown-up | $5.00 | see above | 90 min |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ): Building in our MAKE and TAKE Tinkerspace! Starting with… YES, you need a Reservation!
HOW IT WORKS: For a small fee of $10 dollars you can build as much as you can for 90 min at our 12pm session or our 3pm session daily, 7 days a week! Looking for a creative way to spend the afternoon? Come visit the TINKERSPACE! Our low-tech makerspace is the perfect place to get ideas rolling on how to up-cycle loose part cast offs into super inspiring and unique sculptures. Our workshop is stocked with a wide variety of building materials, engineering connectors and basic hand tools to get you tinkering. Whether you are searching for a way to get your family working together in a cooperative setting, have a kiddo whose brain won’t let you take out the recycling because they are constantly bin diving for art materials, have a scouts group looking for badge ideas, or you and your partner want a “fun date” activity, the Tinkerspace has something for everyone. TEENS and GROWN UPS encouraged to build too!
Reserve Your Time, call 253-778-6539
☀ SESSION ONE 12-1:30 pm
🌙 SESSION TWO 3-4:30 pm
Time slots are 90 minutes long. Reservations can be made by calling for availability. For larger groups, booking spots Two (2) weeks in advance recommended . EVEN SO, there could be same-day tinker time-slots available so give us a call ASAP! SAVE TIME BY getting started filling out your required waiver/release form now! 
WHAT CAN WE MAKE? The Tinkerspace has been the incubator for a plethora of possibilities and creative potential. People often ask if we host guided workshops. There are special occasions when it is appropriate to schedule a “themed” based group activity, however, we have found that our space is best suited for creative process, open-ended exploration. It’s way more exciting to see where your imagination takes you than to have our tinker-guides tell you what to make. With that said, our Tinker Staff have over 10 years of experience and are always on hand to provide tips, tricks and jumpstarts to assist with age appropriate ideas, engineering techniques and tool usage. SEE our Creation Example Gallery below or in person! You can totally bring creations from last time to keep building too, but sometimes more fun to start from scratch!
HOW MANY FOLKS CAN ATTEND A SESSION? We have provided a picture of our space to help illustrate the workshop environment we provide for groups. There are two tables that each seat 5-6 people. For safety and comfort while building, we limit maximum capacity to 10 folks at a time. When calling for a reservation, you will be asked the total number of visitors in your party, which will include builders AND observers/helpers.
CAN WE HOST BIRTHDAY PARTIES? Celebrating a special Tinkerer is one of our favorite things! Here’s what we offer for parties: Yes, you can book the whole space for your group, but remember we can only host 10 bodies at a time (this includes adult bodies). An example that has been working for youth parties is, one or two adult helpers and 8-9 builders. Cost is the same for normal visits $10.00/builder $5.00/helper. Our space is great for the activity, not the food/cake/balloons/gifts. In other words, NO FOOD! Families have been creative with this aspect and either pass out a birthday treat to attendants on the way out or go down the street (Staff pick: Abella’s Pizza) for food at one of our neighboring establishments.
CAN WE BOOK A FIELD TRIP/SCHOOL GROUP? Our programming is great for STEAM based curriculum. Because the setting of our space is for small, intimate problem solving work, we can not host groups of more than 10 bodies at a time. This is a disadvantage for school groups that have large classroom sizes. We are focusing on small groups like Scout Troops, daycares and small homeschool groups.
PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS! 🚗🚙🚎🚐
90min City Street parking is available out front the shop. You will need to pay at the parking kiosk. You can also park across the street at the Washington State History Museum CHEAP and for longer max times! Also, you can find the same deal on the UW Tacoma campus parking lots up the hill behind the shop. Also also, we are lucky to be directly on transit hub if you wanna ride the NEW T-LINK LIGHT RAIL EXTENSION! or BUS. HECK, there is even a marina very close if you have a boat!
Not Done Tinkering? 90 Minutes Not Long Enough? Park your Creations (AFTER GROUP PHOTO) and Fill a Bulk Bag of materials before heading out!
We collect surprising materials offering them for creative reuse as discount ALTERNATIVE arts and craft supplies! While Rare/Ancient items are individually priced, most materials are sorted and sold in… BULK BY BAG SIZE (plus sales tax)! Choose from 3 different bag girths in our RETAIL SIDE!!
EXAMPLE CREATIONS from the minds of our Tinker Cadets…
BONUS RESOURCES: Arranged in an all-you-can-use saladbar of materials and expertly curated by Tinkertopia staff! Die Cut Machine Press + Card Stock; Hot Glue Guns + Sticks; Cordless Drill; Screw Gun; Paper Chopper; Pop Riveter; Reference Library; Tinker Examples; Fabric; Wood; Paper; Craft Wire; Stickers+Tape; Sharpie Markers; ___________ ? The only limitation is your imagination! Doctors are freaking out, the shape of children’s eyeballs are changing shape because they are staring at close up screens all day long. So messed up! Get these kids a hobby that will help their friggin’ eyeballs!
